Robo Prize
a claimed PRIZE VALUE of Millions of Dollars. The idea of offering prize-money
to help advance technology is not new. Throughout history, prize money has
motivated people to achieve great things. Lindbergh would not have been the
first person to fly solo across the Atlantic if it wasn't for the prize
money. In fact, that was said to be one of his main motivating factor!
There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but who
cares when you can have a free robot? Ten lucky researchers are getting
a new model gratis from Silicon Valley robotics lab
Willow Garage.
The PR2 is being given away in an attempt to establish
a standard hardware platform to help roboticists
build on each other's work
and independently verify claims of robotic prowess.
Most robots destined for research have custom-built
hardware and software, which means the researcher spends more time
tweaking and troubleshooting than designing new and smarter behaviour,
says
Keenan Wyrobek, a Willow Garage engineer developing robots to work
directly with people.
World view:-
Wyrobek hopes that PR2 will do the same for "mobile
manipulation". Each of the robot's two arms can lift up to 1.8 kilograms
each, and it has two cameras and a 3D laser scanner to help it picture
the world around it and identify objects.
Wyrobek hopes that PR2 will do the same for "mobile manipulation". Each
of the robot's two arms can lift up to 1.8 kilograms each, and it has
two cameras and a 3D laser scanner to help it picture the world around
it and identify objects
Ability to use Aps, applications that may be downloaded and
shared
Japanese department store offers robots that look like their buyers
We all knew this day would come and we all knew this would happen first in Japan. And local department store chain operator
Sogo & Seibu is ready to make it possible: You can soon buy robots who look exactly like you.
Right, life-size humanoids.
The company isn't that sure about its idea though as it plans to offer just two robots for the time being. Sogo &
Seibu says they'll start accepting orders in all of their department stores in Japan as soon as early next month. But if there are three or
more people interested in getting a robotic doppelgänger, buyers will be chosen by lot.
Now knows how to navigate around people in work areas, a
seemingly simple, yet complex task. It can also share and coordinate tasks
with other Asimos and dock itself at the recharge station as needed. These
abilities enable the Asimo to be more autonomous in a workplace and bring
it one step closer to replacing actual humans.
Honda developed an intelligence technology that enhances
smooth movement by enabling ASIMO to choose between stepping back and
yielding the right-of-way or continuing to walk based on the predicted
movement of oncoming people. Honda also developed a new intelligence
technology related to ASIMO's ability to perform tasks such as carrying
a tray and pushing a cart. Furthermore, a new comprehensive system was
developed so that multiple ASIMOs can share tasks by adjusting to the
situation and work together in coordination to provide uninterrupted
service. For example, if one ASIMO is idled while recharging, other ASIMO
robots will step in and perform assigned tasks.ASIMO identifies oncoming
people through its eye camera, calculates traveling direction and speed,
predicts forthcoming movements of oncoming people, and chooses the most
appropriate path so that it will not block the movement of others. When
there is not enough space, ASIMO will step back and yield the
right-of-way. (newlaunches)
iRobot Web Specials Let' our cleaning Robots take care of those tasks even while you are not at home.
Google X-Prize by building lunar missions complete with robotic rovers capable of roaming the surface of
the moon for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and other data back to Earth, according to a statement from the X Prize Foundation. Google Lunar X Prize
ROS is an open-source, meta-operating system for your robot. It provides the services you would expect from an operating system, including hardware abstraction, low-level device control, implementation of commonly-used functionality, message-passing between processes, and package management. Robots Using ROS series for articles on the variety of ways that ROS has been used with robots.
First Objective For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is a unique varsity sport of the mind designed to help high-school-aged young people discover how interesting and rewarding the life of engineers and researchers can be.
Yuta Sugiura and his colleagues at the Graduate School of Media Design, Keio
University, have developed a new control scheme for robots and virtual characters called Walky for the iPhone. Rather than using a cumbersome
game controller or keyboard, which may pose a problem for novice users, they can use Walky to control walking, turning, jumping, kicking, and
other actions through simple finger gestures on the iPhone's touch screen.
The BBC is reporting on a wirelessly controlled "spider pill" being
developed somewhere in Italy. The device supposedly has eight legs and
reportedly can crawl through intestines. With an attached video camera,
the device might actually become a diagnostic modality for imaging the
intestinal tract. The big question is whether it is more unpleasant to
have a colonoscope defile you or a robotic gerbil crawl through the
insides.
Norris Labs Steve Norris, Boston, MA, wrote in with his latest project: a robot that'll bring you a beer.
The Beverage Delivery System (BDS) is an ambitious project of mine to create
a fully automated inter-home delivery system. Anyone who has built a robot
has, at one point or another, been asked the question "but can it bring me a
beer?"; I'm sure that like me, roboticists all over the world have grown
weary of this question. The Beverage Delivery System is the answer to this
age old problem, a problem that has plagued mankind since the invention of
the canned beverage.
Baxter is the transport component of my Beverage Delivery System (BDS).
Supporting Baxter is a fixed location dispenser robot called RoboFridge. You
can think of a RoboFridge as a kind of soda vending machine that does not
require money. Like a real vending machine RoboFridge supports the
dispensing of canned beverages. The concept of the BDS could even be
extended to non-food items like medications, DVDs and books.
The BDS process starts when a user requests an item using a simple remote
control. Baxter is activated from his sleep mode and navigates to RoboFridge
using a variety of navigation techniques. These include dead reckoning using
encoders, IR beacons, and line following.
Once he arrives Baxter will
initiate a docking sequence with RoboFridge. After docking, RoboFridge
deposits the canned beverage into Baxter's cargo area. Baxter then undocks
and navigates back to the thirsty user to deliver the beverage.
Finally I can get a frosty cold beverage delivered to me in my favorite easy
chair without any effort or argument!
Issac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are a set of three rules written by Isaac Asimov, which almost all positronic robots appearing in his fiction must obey. Introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround",
although foreshadowed in a few earlier stories, the Laws state the following:-
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Ethics
for the Robot Age - Should bots carry weapons? Should they win patents?
Questions we must answer as automation advances. View by Jordan Pollack. Wired
Magazine (January 2005; Issue 13.01). "My definition of a robot is any
device controlled by software that can work 24/7 and put people out of work. The
machines are not intelligent. ... In case you missed them, today's most popular
robots are ATMs and computer printers. While our hopes for and fears of robots
may be overblown, there is plenty to worry about as automation progresses. The
future will have many more robots, and they'll most certainly be much more
advanced. This raises important ethical questions that we must begin to
confront. 1. Should robots be humanoid? ... 2. Should humans become
robots? ... 4. Should robots eat? ... 6. Should robots carry
weapons? ..."
During filming for the Transformers 3 movie, a stunt went terribly wrong and an
extra
was injured.
The accident involved several vehicles with an object going through a
windshield hitting the driver resulting in a serious head injury.
Filming was taking place in Hammond in northwestern Indiana.
Several videos
exist of the movie shooting in Chicago on Youtube, along with some funny
trailers.
Transformers 3 is scheduled for a July 2011 release.
With more biology than robotics,
researchers at University of Tokyo
harvested eggs from African Clawed Frogs to build
inexpensive olfactory sensors.
DNA from fruit flies and moths were added to stimulate production
of the sensors known to be good at detecting certain molecules, then
electrodes
were attached to capture the receptor's output.
Now for the "Robot" part - results from the sensors are read by software
on a PC and a simple actuator was used to cause a robotic mannequin head
to shake back and forth adding impact to the experiment.
See the PDF
for the full scoop.
The term RoboCup usually makes us think of a contest involving robots and soccer,
but this one is different.
The RoboCup
Golf Ball Returner from Fine Tune Golf does just what it says, and
fairly well too. RoboCup captures your put (even the bad ones using the
Caddy Cord) and sends it back for another shot - over 12,000 times on AA
batteries, and around 14 feet.
Check out the
Video.
In spite of new and unexpected findings by a Berkeley Lab research team that
microbes have done
an amazing job taking care of the underwater oil plume in the Gulf
of Mexico, oil on the surface can cause a lot of damage to wildlife and
property if it washes ashore.
Researchers at MIT are working out ways to skim that surface oil using a
swarm of robots.
The robots communicate with each other using a WiFi network, and using
GPS then coordinate their movements with software inspired by natural
swarms. Oil is dealt with on the spot by heating it thus avoiding a
lengthy trip to shore.
See
the video.
Check out Simple
Bots at Instructables.
Randy Sarafan, author of 62
Projects to Make with a Dead Computer,
presents an array of robots using these guidelines: Easy and quick to
build, simple, mobile, autonomous, and eventually able to incorporate
more complex controls and/or be assimilated by a more complex system.
The results are fascinating and include common household objects such as
telephone handsets, paint brushes and small plastic containers.
Simple bots typically rely on one or more
RC
servomotors modified for continuous drive for their mobility along
with a pack of AA batteries.
Freelancer Tim Hornyak, author
of "Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots" has written a
short review of Evolution Robotics' new Mint floor-cleaning robot over at cnet.
Mint is a sweeper/mopper with a unique square-ish shape that improves
treatment of corners.
Its navigation system keeps track of where it's been so it doesn't miss
any spots, and uses sensors to avoid rugs and stairs.
Mint uses rectangular disposable cleaning cloths that are compatible
with some Swiffer brand cleaning
systems and widely available at stores.
A team of
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) seniors was named "Rookie of
the Year" for the design and development of its robot, Prometheus, whose
purpose is to safely drive around any environment while avoiding
obstacles. The team was recognized at the 18th annual Intelligent Ground
Vehicle Competition (IGVC), held this summer at Oakland University in
Rochester, Mich.
Prometheus has a custom-welded frame made out of aluminum, two drive
wheels in the back, and one steering wheel in the front. The vehicle
uses an array of sensors including differential GPS, a digital compass,
video cameras, and a distance sensor that constantly collect and process
information about its environment.
In its latest episode, the Robots
Podcast interviews the lead researcher of the Distributed Flight
Array and one of my colleagues at the ETH Zurich's IDSC,
Raymond Oung.
The Distributed Flight Array (DFA) is an aerial modular robot. Each
individual module has a single, large propellor and a set of omniwheels
to move around. Since a single propellor does not allow stable flight,
modules move around to connect to each other. As shown in this video
of the DFA, the resulting random shape then takes flight. After a
few minutes of hovering the structure breaks up and modules fall back to
the ground, restarting the cycle. As most projects at the IDSC, the DFA
is grounded in rigorous mathematics and design principles and combines
multiple goals: It serves as a real-world testbed for research in
distributed estimation and control, it abstracts many of the real-world
issues of the next generation of distributed multi-agent systems, and it
provides an illustration for otherwise abstract concepts like
distributed sensing and control to a general public. For more
information on current work, future plans and real-world applications,
read
on or tune
in!
University of Calgary researchers have developed
neurochips capable of interfacing to and sensing activity of
biological neurons in very high resolution.
The new chips are automated so it's now easy to connect multiple brain
cells eliminating the years of training it once required.
While researchers say this technology could be used for new diagnostic
methods and treatments for a variety of neuro-degenerative diseases,
this advancement could ultimately lead to the use of biological neurons
in the central or sub-processing units of computers and automated
machinery.
Scientists at University of Leeds are
using a robotic submarine to study a deep channel that runs along
the floor of the Black Sea.
The underwater river is denser than the surrounding water and composed
of sediment with a high salinity. There are similarities to land-based
rivers but also major differences in how the mass flows.
Study of the flow is being performed by a 7-metre torpedo-shaped robot
called the
Autosub3 because its accurate positioning system allows it to be
programmed to stay just above the channel to prevent damage.
Researchers from Leeds University are working on a camera and
drill-weilding robot known as Djedi to solve the mystery of the blocked
shafts inside the Great Pyramid at Giza. In 1992 and 2002, remote
cameras were sent through the shaft under the watchful eye of
antiquities master Dr. Zahi Hawass only to be stopped by limestone
doors. Dr. Robert Richardson of the Mechanical Engineering department
said their goal is to find out what is beyond the blocks and go as far
as possible to discover the purpose of the shafts, all while doing
minimal damage to the structure. Final preparations are being made now
with hopes
of sending the robot in before year's end. Place your bets now!
Engineers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in
Germany built a Ferrari F1 simulator using an industrial robot arm.
The driver sits in a simulated cockpit attached to the end of the arm
and lets the driver feel what it's like to take the turns and feel the
G's.
The stated purpose is to study how humans respond to movement, but we
all know the motivation goes far beyond that!
Unexpected movements within the abdomens of caterpillars are giving
scientists new ideas in locomotion engineering for soft-material robots.
Using real-time X-Ray imaging, researchers
at Virginia Tech and Tufts found that the caterpillar's gut slid
forward in advance of the surrounding tissues. These unexpected
interactions between internal and external structures offer
new efficiencies for motion which could lead to improvements in designs
for future robots needing to crawl in certain environments.
Researchers at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research are working on
a new
mathematical model to mimic the human brain's ability to identify
objects. The model can predict human performance on certain
visual-perception tasks suggesting it’s a good indication of what's
actually happening in the brain.
Researchers are hoping the new findings will make their way into future
object-recognition systems for automation, mobile robotics, and other
applications.
Sun, 1 Aug 2010 13:59:15 GMT - The latest episode of Robots dives into
the world of Science Fiction with an interview with Patrick Gyger,
director of one of the world's major Science Fiction Museums, the "Maison d’Ailleurs"
("House of Elsewhere"). Gyger discusses how science fiction informs on
and also shapes the role of robots in society. He points to the
important cross-pollination of science and science fiction and finally
discusses the consequences of the ever accelerating pace of scientific
progress and its consequences for the genre. The second part of the
episode is dedicated to a small celebration of the genre with a
re-recording of Jack Graham's
Selkies. Read
on or tune
in!
MAKE brings the
do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with
exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and
away from home. This is a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack,
and bend any technology to your own will. (Quite a few mini-robots to build in a
weekend.)
Search
for Robotics related links on A Science Portal. Ideal
for Science Projects. Links to cutting edge science related web sites. Cutting edge science. Research and breakthroughs using State of the Art
and discovery's of new sciences, physics, cosmology, the Universe, power sources, control units, memory devices, displays, portable computers,
nanotechnology, organic, biological, medical, neurology, mobile, portable, WAP, G3, electronic, etc. Earth science, engineering and bandwidth solutions.
Robotics, gadgets, chemical and telecommunications. Social, psychology and politics. A look at the future?
Nanobots, NanoRobots, Nanotechnolgy. Dangers of Nanotechnology. Is Nanotechnology dangerous?
Stickybot is an embodiment of our hypotheses about the requirements for mobility on vertical surfaces using dry adhesion. The main point is that we don't need more adhesion, we need controllable adhesion. The essential ingredients are:
hierarchical compliance for conforming at centimeter, millimeter and micrometer scales,
anisotropic dry adhesive materials and structures so that we can control adhesion by controlling shear,
distributed active force control that works with compliance and anisotropy to achieve stability.
Make The World's Smallest Wheeled Robot With A Gripper. Build a 1/20 cubic inch robot with a gripper
that can pick up and move small objects. It is controlled by a Picaxe
microcontroller. At this point in time, I believe this may be the
world's smallest wheeled robot with a gripper. That will no doubt
change, tomorrow or next week, when someone builds so...
Dr. Rrobot Inc., is a
developer and manufacturer of mobile robotics technology, providing autonomous
robots solutions tailored for commercial and industrial security, monitoring and
inventory applications.
Interested in sensing things without using
sight? So are the researchers at the University of Sheffield and Bristol
Robotics Laboratory, who have developed the
Scratchbot
robot that can navigate by waving around a set of 18 whiskers.
To design their sensors, they began by
reverse-engineering a rat's whiskers using high-speed video cameras.
After studying how the rat used the whiskers, they developed a
mechanical system that was able to perform in a similar manner. The
larger whiskers were then outfitted with a magnet and hall effect
sensors, which allowed their motion to be observed. Then, instead of
developing a traditional software-based motion control system, the
researchers developed a neurologically-inspired system that uses an FPGA
to simulate how the rat's brain actually reacts to whisker movement. The
result is a robot capable of sensing the world around it using only
touch.
As a sight-based organism, I find it humbling
that there are so many other ways of navigating the world that do not
involve light. In this case, the whiskers on many creatures are
sensitive enough to detect subtle textures and patterns in the world
around them, and this works well as a replacement for vision in
navigation. Cool stuff! [via
neatorama]
T.
R. I, Toy Robots Initiative aims to commercialize robotics technologies for
human-robot collaboration in education, toys, entertainment and art. (Don't
underrate because of the work Toy)
RoboGames (Formally
ROBOlympics), is the world's largest open robot competition. We invite the
best minds from around the world to compete.
Robot Group TX artists and engineers who shared a common vision: utilizing technology to provide and explore new mediums for art. Through the synergy of fusing art and technology.
MAKE: Blog pal, and author of Robodance, Robert Oschler,
is in the process of updating this free Robosapien
control program so that it can also work with the new Tomy i-Sobot, using the IR connection on the robot and the Nintendo Wii
remote controller (Wiimote). This video offers a sneak peak of Robodance 4's
capabilities.
This Instructable shows how to make a little walking
robot which avoids obstacles (much like many commercially available
options). But what's the fun in buying a toy when you can instead start
with a motor, sheet of plastic and pile of bolts and proceed to build your
own. Well I hope you share this attitude and please enjoy.
Society of Robots has a great video of a robot arm-clocks
The robot arm is probably the most mathematically complex robot you
could ever build. As such, this tutorial cant tell you everything
you need to know. Instead, I will take shortcuts and just talk about
the bear minimum you need to know to build an effective robot arm.
Please bear with the math . . . enjoy!
To get you started, here is a video of a robot arm assignment I
had when I took Robotic Manipulation back in college. My group
programmed it to type the current time into the keyboard . . .
(lesson learned, don't crash robot arms into your keyboard at full
speed while testing)
Gomi Style, they build a low-cost telepresence robot. There are some "problems" with this video. It's not an "autonomous" robot if *you* control it and the show is called Gomi Style, and they say the robot is made of junk they have lying around, but then, it's made with the Vex robotics system, the MAKE Controller, a Mac Mini, an iSight camera, and an LCD monitor. Still, they manage to make a pretty decent telepresence bot for probably under $1000.
Spark.jr DIY, open source mobile
telepresence.Get free software and instructions, plus how-to videos, hardware
links and more connecting you the growing community of mobile telepresence and
videochat ROV builders.
What is Telepresence?
Telepresence refers to technologies that allow a person to see, hear and sense a
location other than their true location, as well as have an effect in that
remote location. Commonly referred to as videochat, telepresence is used by
surgeons, NASA scientists and rescue workers as well as family and friends in
separate locations.
But why Sparky?
SPARKY is a rough acronym for Self Portrait Artifact ? Roving Chassis.
But I?m not technical? How can I build a telepresenece robot?
We provide all the software and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions that
will walk you through the process of building and running a robot, using things
like Mac Mini?s, Roomba vacuum?s, Vex, Erector set parts and assorted found
objects.
TED India, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with
the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and
a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says
he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its
possibilities to all.
About Pranav Mistry The inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that
enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.
Was the buzz of Ted. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound
interaction with our environment. Imagine "Minority Report" and then some.
About Pattie Maes At the MIT Media Lab's new Fluid Interfaces Group, Pattie Maes
researches the tools we use to work with information and connect with one another.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:15:21 +0000 - The robotics journal Autonomous Robots has its own blog, which is intended to take the hardcore robot news from the journal and make it a bit more reader friendly. They also link back to the journal articles, should you need a little of that hardcore techy info. Yeah baby. Anyway, looking back through some of [...]
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:48:59 +0000 - Robot plants are not new to BotJunkie, but creepy ones are. Not that this robot plant is intended to be creepy, but like everything in the Uncanny Valley, it just sort of ends up that way. Or maybe it’s just me.
Each of the plant’s 169 artificial leaves is controlled by a piece of shape memory [...]
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:52:31 +0000 - With just a little bitty Army contract, you can take that robot paintball turret that we saw a week or so ago, mount it on a QinetiQ SWIFT (an intermediate prototype between this and this), and rig it up to be controlled by head movements. It’s not just for the cool factor (although there’s definitely [...]
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:05:51 +0000 - Building robots has never been a cheap hobby, but you can offset the expense a bit simply by winning this contest sponsored by Trossen Robotics. They want you to make a robot, any robot, and as long as it’s more super incredibly awesome than any other robot ever made it’s pretty much guaranteed to win [...]
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:55:01 +0000 - We were among the very first to see the latest generation of Stanford’s gecko-inspired climbing robot, Stickybot III, earlier this year at the Stanford National Robotics Week event. While Stickbot III could stick to surfaces, the climbing technique (one of those harder than it sounds things) was still in the works. Just recently, they’ve figured [...]
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:45:18 +0000 - CMU just posted this new vid of their Snakebot (Modsnake) climbing a tree and looking around. It’s still tethered, but it’s a snake, so that just makes it seem more snakey. This isn’t the first video we’ve seen of CMU’s Snakebot climbing stuff, but it’s the first one we’ve seen outside of the lab, so [...]
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:24:59 +0000 - The last few vids we’ve posted on Boston Dynamics’ BigDog haven’t shown much in the way of new capabilities, although DARPA has asked for some upgrades. Back in May (I think, although the video wasn’t posted until now), Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, gave a talk at Stanford on the current progress and future [...]
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:21:19 +0000 - In an incident that’s already been blown way out of proportion by headlines like “ROBOT KILL-CHOPPER GOES ROGUE above Washington DC!“, an MQ-8 FireScout temporarily lost its communication link and entered restricted airspace around Washington DC before operators shifted to another ground control station and brought it back to base.
Obviously, this isn’t the way [...]
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:59:57 +0000 - We already knew that in some specific cases, robots are better pilots than humans, but this footage from Rockwell Collins really drives home the fact that under extreme circumstances, there’s just no out-flying a robot. This small autonomous demonstrator suffers all kinds of damage, but not only does it not crash, it keeps on flying [...]
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:15:23 +0000 - I love Microsoft Surface. I’ve been in love with it ever since the hands-on demo I got back at CES 2008. Since then, Surface has trickled into a few retail settings (and become the most epic D&D tabletop evar), but it shines when it comes to practical applications, too. Mark Micire at UMass Lowell has [...]
Hexapod Dance-Off
video from the Austrian Hexapod Dance-Off. (Not really a robot but great fun).
The Hexapod moves are sure expressive organised by BotJunkie-
Want to know one of the great things about building robots? If you are given an unenviable assignment, in this case testing new power cords for PR2, the first question you can ask is whether a robot can do it instead.
So that's what we did. In order to validate the insertion life with the receptacle on the back of PR2 we needed to conduct an insertion test thousands of times with different cords from different manufacturers. And we needed to do it right away.
PR2 was up to the task. Instead of having a person manually plugging and unplugging ad infinitum, we spent twenty minutes writing code. The result was a PR2 app that our technicians can now use to run plug insertions as many times as needed.
Willow Garage is happy to
announce three recipients of the Willow Garage Open Source Achievement Award. This
award recognizes individuals in the robotics community who have been
leaders in promoting and developing open-source software. Awardees are selected by the Willow Garage research and development team and will receive $2000 as additional thanks for their efforts.
Peter Soetens: Peter Soetens is the lead developer of the Orocos RTT framework for real-time robotics control. He is also the founder of The SourceWorks, which promotes, teaches, and supports the adoption of open source software in machine control applications.
Geoffrey Biggs: Geoffrey Biggs has contributed to numerous
open-source robotics frameworks. In addition to being a founder of the Gearbox Project, which promotes framework-independent robotics code, he has been a contributor to Player, OpenRTM, and ROS.
Giorgio Grisetti: Giorgio Grisetti is a main developer of the GMapping and TORO libraries, which are part of the OpenSLAM
project. GMapping and TORO have improved scientific research in SLAM
and provided important components for real-world robotic systems. Work
on these projects was done in conjunction with Cyrill Stachniss,
Slawomir Grzonka and Wolfram Burgard.
Ze'ev Klapow, our summer intern from Petaluma High School, tackled several challenges to help improve the PR2, Texai, and ROS.
As Texai move into environments outside the Willow Garage offices, it is reasonable to
expect that they'll encounter stairs and other potentially hazardous
drop-offs. Ze'ev set out to design a low-cost and effective solution to
help Texai avoid these hazards. He was able to use multiple, cheap IR sensors -- less than $10 each -- to create an infrared sensor array
for the Texai. The
prototype uses a ATmega168 microcontroller and three GP2D12/GP2D120 IR rangefinders in a short, medium, and long-range configuration, in order to slow the robot before approaching a drop-off and stop it if gets too close.
Ze'ev also worked on automating more of the PR2 calibration process. PR2
already automates some of its own calibration, including waving a small
checkerboard in front of its sensors. However, there are steps that
required the help of a person, such as waving a larger checkerboard around
for the wide stereo cameras and moving a small checkerboard from the left
gripper to the right. With the new "auto calibration" code, the
process is now just setup and go. PR2 drives around the large
checkerboard on its own and is able to move the small checkerboard from
one gripper to the other.
Another
project that Ze'ev worked on was making it easier to setup ROS packages
with XCode and Cocoa on OS X. You can find more information
here.
Our founder Scott Hassan challenged the PR2 Beta Site participants to get the PR2 to "do something cool, funny, or useful." To be fair to advisors and bosses, entrants were also told that the "competition should not interfere with your work or research duties."
What could these sites do in a short period of time? Checkout the results below.
First Place ($5000): Sockification, Berkeley: Ping Chuan Wang, Stephen Miller, Mario Fritz, Trevor Darrell, Pieter Abbeel
Second Place ($3000): Mailman, Bosch: Ben Pitzer
Third Place ($2000): PR2 Band, University of Pennsylvania: Ben Cohen, Daniel Benamy and Mike Phillips
With the PR2 Beta Program up and running and in the field, it's time for the next step – PR2s for sale.
It was important for us to wait until we had positive feedback on PR2s from our beta sites before making them commercially available, but that time is near. Next month we will be formally announcing that you can purchase your very own PR2. Stay tuned for more details.
If you would like a quote or more information in the meantime, please email us at PR2info@willowgarage.com.
We are extremely proud of PR2, and have been overwhelmed by the response of the robotics community. Thank you to everyone in the world of open source robotics who has helped to make PR2 and ROS what they are today: an integrated hardware and software platform that provides researchers with immediate productivity.
One of the new features in ROS C Turtle was a critical component of our recent "hackathons." When fetching a drink out of a refrigerator, for example, a robot has to perform numerous tasks such as grasping a handle, opening a door, and scanning for drinks. These tasks have to be carefully orchestrated to deal with unexpected conditions and errors. We've previously used complex task-planning systems to orchestrate these actions, but our developers and researchers needed something more rapid for prototyping robot behaviors.
One of our interns came up with an answer. SMACH ("State MACHine", pronounced "smash") is a task-specification and coordination architecture that was developed by Jonathan Bohren as part of his second internship here at Willow Garage. Jonathan came to us from the GRASP Lab at University of Pennsylvania and is now headed off to the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR) at Johns Hopkins. During his extended stay here, SMACH was used in a variety of PR2 projects.
SMACH was first used in the rewrite of our plugging and doors code, then further refined during our billiards, cart-pushing, and drink-fetching hackathons. In all of these projects, the ability to code these behaviors quickly was critical, as was the ability to create more robust behaviors for dealing with failure.
SMACH is a ROS-independent Python library, so it can be used with and without ROS infrastructure. It comes with important developer tools like a visualizer for the current SMACH plan and introspection tools to
monitor the internal state and data flow. There are already many SMACH tutorials that can be found on the ROS wiki, and we hope to see SMACH used to produce many more cool robotics apps!
ROS C Turtle builds on Box Turtle with across-the-board improvements
to these core libraries and numerous bug fixes. These improvements
include a new "nodelet" architecture that provides low-latency, zero-copy message passing within C++ nodes, official support for a Lisp client library, and an official firewire camera driver
(thanks to Jack O'Quin). Numerous third-party libraries have been
upgraded in this release, including Stage 3.2.2, Bullet 2.76, and Eigen
2.0.15, as well as newer versions of KDL and Gazebo. There are many, many other improvements listed in the change list.
This release includes new experimental libraries for 3D perception, manipulation, grasping, and visual odometry.
We encourage early adopters to test out these libraries and provide
feedback so that they can be stabilized for future ROS releases.
Since the release of Box Turtle, the ROS community has grown immensely. There are over a dozen new public, open-source repositories
of ROS code, and ROS has been ported to a variety of different robot
platforms, from mobile manipulators to autonomous boats. Commercial
robotics software libraries like Urbi and Karto now have open-source offerings that are compatible with ROS, and the list of robot platforms
that can be used with ROS continues to grow. We're excited at these new
opportunities to collaborate within the community and hope that you all
enjoy this C Turtle release.
ROS distribution releases occur on a six-month cycle. The successor to C Turtle, Diamondback, is expected in February of 2011.
This fourth installment features both aerial and indoor robots, as well research and commercial:
Penn Quadrotors: ROS is now being used in robots that fly. ROS communication and modular infrastructure is being used by researchers at Penn to help their aerial robots perform "aggressive" manuevers.
Robotino: the Robotino platform, which is distributed Festo Didactic and developed by REC, now has a complete set of ROS drivers, including support for the ROS navigation stack.
Shadow Dextrous Hand: Shadow Robot's dextrous hand now comes with ROS software for both real and simulated hardware.
Wash U's B21r and ERRATICs: The Media and Machines Lab at Washington University uses ROS to power their iRobot B21r and have shared their drivers with the rest of the iRobot/RWI community. Wash U also uses ROS to power their fleet of Videre ERRATICs and iRobot Creates.
TUM-Rosie:
TU München built a Kuka-based mobile manipulation platform to research
robots with a high-degree of cognition.
CKbots:
the Modlab's small, modular robots are too small to run ROS themselves,
but they can connect to a ROS system to test algorithms that need a bit
more horsepower.
Marvin:
the autonomous car from Austin Robot Technology and UT Austin competed
in the DARPA Urban Challenge and has now been ported to ROS.
HERB:
the mobile manipulator, based on a Segway RMP200 and Barrett arm, was
built to be a "robotic butler" and is used as a collaboration between
Intel Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
Care-O-bot 3: Fraunhofer IPA's mobile manipulation
platform has broad support for ROS. The accompanying open-source
repository includes everything from device drivers to simulation in
Gazebo.
Bosch RTC's robot: Bosch RTC's Segway RMP-based
robot has been used to develop new ROS libraries, including an exploration stack.
EL-E and Cody: Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics
Lab has released drivers and has also released code to accompany
research papers.
Kawada HPR2-V: the JSK Lab at Tokyo University has
integrated this omni-directional variant of the HRP-2 with the ROS navigation stack.
Prairie Dog: the Correll Lab at Colorado University
uses this iRobot Create-based platform for teaching and research.
STAIR
1: the Stanford University mobile manipulation research platform
that provided the predecessor of the ROS framework.
Aldebaran
Nao:
a small, commercially available humanoid robot that demonstrated the
ability of the ROS community (Brown University and University of
Freiburg) to come together and develop open source drivers.
i-Sobot:
an even smaller humanoid robot controlled by the ROS PS3 joystick
driver. The developer has been publishing a Japanese-language blog on ROS,
helping ROS reach new audiences.
Junior:
Stanford Racing's autonomous car that finished a close second in the
DARPA Urban Challenge. Junior's main software framework is IPC, but
ROS's modular libraries have made it easy to integrate ROS-based
perception libraries into their obstacle classification system.
Thanks to the efforts of Gostai, Urbi and ROS are now compatible!
Urbi 2.1 has just been released, and this new release includes
integration with ROS and Urbiscript.
For ROS users, Urbiscript provides users a powerful scripting
environment that provides features like parallelism and event-triggers
for creating behavior scripts for your robots. ROS users can also use
the Gostai Studio Suite, which provides a graphical IDE. Gostai has released the Urbi kernel as open source (AGPL), which contributes the growing community of open-source platform technologies for robotics.
For Urbi users, ROS provides a quickly growing library of reusable
and open-source software components with a wide range of
capabilities, including navigation, perception, and manipulation.
One of the problems we have when creating presentations or other materials for robotics is the availability of artwork to illustrate the topics we're discussing. That's why we're making available all of the great artwork that Josh Ellingson did for us in our "PR2 Beta Sites Spotlight" series available with a Creative Commons (NC, BA) license. We've uploaded these illustrations to Flickr, where you can grab higher resolution versions.
If you like this art, checkout Josh's site for more, or stay tuned here.
eild Robotics Center
the future of field robotics by creating automated work machines for land, sea,
air and space.
TeleRAD
is a radiation survey robot. The name stands for distance Radiation Absorbed
Dose or in other words detecting radiation levels remotely. TeleRAD uses a
Geiger counter to detect radiation levels.
Total RobotsTotal Robots
BEAM. The term BEAM is an acronym for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics
and Mechanics. BEAM robotics was invented (and is patented) by Dr Mark W. Tilden
whilst he was a student at University in Canada. Includes OOPic.
How-To:
Build BEAM Vibrobots The key to Vibrobot movement is a motor (or motors) that employs an unbalanced weight.
Pager and other motors used to create vibration alerts in consumer electronics use this technique. As the motor shaft spins, the weight on the shaft, being
off-kilter, makes the motor, and therefore the entire pager, vibrate. Hook such a motor up to a little robo-critter with four fixed legs, and when the motor
fires and the weight starts spinning, the bot will skitter across the floor.
BEAM robotics is the brain child of Mark W. Tilden who is currently working at "Los Alamos
National Laboratory" in Los Alamos, New Mexico, US. BEAM robotics as described in the BEAM rule book: 1/: A description of what aspects
a roving robot creature could contain. BEAM is a triple acronym which stands for:-
Canadian artist
Jessica Field.
Jessica makes these wonderful, funky little robo-critters, some BEAMish,
others more sophisticated, with computer-control. I like how she
"programs" failures/shortcomings into her robot creations. (Wait, don't
most robots do that on their own?)
Slarbotics offers
competition robot kits, solar-powered robots, books, electronic components,
motors, parts and information on the expanding field of BEAM Robotics. Enjoy our
website, and we welcome your comments.
The BristleBot is a simple and tiny robot
with an agenda. The ingredients? One toothbrush, a battery, and a pager
motor. The result? Serious fun. The BristleBot is our take on the popular
vibrobot, a simple category of robot that is controlled by a single
vibrating (eccentric) motor. Some neat varieties include the mint-tin
version as seen in Make Magazine (check the video), and the kid's art bot: a
vibrobot with pens for feet.
Airic's_arm is a robotic arm inspired by your own
arm. The company describes it as a "combination of mechatronics and the
biological model of a human being."
The mechanical foundation - the
"skeleton" - of Festo's Airic's arm is literally a metal
version of the human skeletal structure. The radius and ulna (primary bones
of the forearm), the metacarpals (hand and fingers) and the shoulder and
shoulder blade are duplicated
PICAXE
microcontrollers are exciting, low-cost, re-programmable chips that can be used
as low-cost 'brains' in many kinds of electronic project. For further
information browse the index bar on the left hand side of the screen.
A iRobot
Create-mounted dot-matrix printer. The Create is essentially a Roomba
without the vacuum. This allows us to add a greater payload and gives us
convenient mounting holes.
Using the robot for the base allows the robot to print a virtually
unlimited size. Think football field...
Amazing !!! Programmable
Paper. Amazing program paper into shapes, paper aeroplane, etc
Programmable Paper. You can program paper to make shapes,
paper dart aeroplane, etc, (OK, maybe it's not quite paper),
but watch this fold itself into shape under programming
control.
A group of
researchers from Harvard and MIT have pushed us closer
to a world of programmable matter. Their approach is a self-folding surface that can take on almost any shape. The above video from
ScienceMag shows the surface turning into a small sailboat and paper plane. [via slashdot]
Based on the ancient art of origami, the sheets are edged by foil actuators--thin, solid-state motors--that contract or expand when they receive an electric current from flexible electronic circuits embedded in the sheets. After they achieve their preprogrammed shape, the sheets are held in place by tiny magnets on the edges of the fold joints.
Programmable matter is a material whose properties can be programmed to
achieve specific shapes or stiffnesses upon command. This concept
requires constituent elements to interact and rearrange intelligently in
order to meet the goal. This paper considers achieving programmable
sheets that can form themselves in different shapes autonomously by
folding. Past approaches to creating transforming machines have been
limited by the small feature sizes, the large number of components, and
the associated complexity of communication among the units. We seek to
mitigate these difficulties through the unique concept of self-folding
origami with universal crease patterns. This approach exploits a single
sheet composed of interconnected triangular sections. The sheet is able
to fold into a set of predetermined shapes using embedded actuation. To
implement this self-folding origami concept, we have developed a
scalable end-to-end planning and fabrication process. Given a set of
desired objects, the system computes an optimized design for a single
sheet and multiple controllers to achieve each of the desired objects.
The material, called programmable matter by folding, is an example of a
system capable of achieving multiple shapes for multiple functions
Robots Podcast for news and views on robotics. In addition to insights from high-profile professionals, Robots will take you for a ride through the world's research labs, robotics companies and their latest innovations.:-
Robots - The Podcast for News and Views on Robotics » Podcast
Robots is the podcast for news, interviews and discussions on all aspects of robotics.
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Michael Tolley and Jonas Neubert from the Computational Synthesis Laboratory run by Hod Lipson at Cornell University present their approach at making programmable matter.
Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Raymond Oung from the Swiss Technical Institute of Technology in Zürich discusses the Distributed Flight Array, which is a new type of modular aerial robot. We then celebrate aerial robotics with a contest on flying robot noises for a chance to win a WowWee Bladestar.
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Patrick Gyger from the Maison d'Ailleurs, one of the major Science Fiction museums in the world, presents the history of robotics in the genre and discusses interactions between science and writing. We the bring you a re-edition of the Selkies stories written by Science Fiction writer Jack Graham in Boston. You can find more of his stories at lonesomerobot.com.
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Brian Yamauchi presents the research & development done at iRobot. As lead roboticist, he tells us about a large range of government projects from making the PackBot platforms more autonomous, work in teams of even fly to more futuristic projects that involve making soft and deformable robots. He also discusses the business of iRobot and the ethics of military robotics.
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Barbara Webb from the University of Edinburgh discusses insect inspired robotics as a control system design approach. Steffen Wischman from the EPFL/UNIL then gives his view on when robots should be used to model biology and his interest in using artificial evolution.
Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Sonia Chernova speaks about the new online game Mars Escape developed to study human-robot interactions. Lessons learnt will be demonstrated in a real-life replica of the game environment at the Boston Museum of Science, where visitors will have a chance to interact with the robot Nexi. Kenton Williams gives us more details on this very expressive robot.
Fri, 07 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT - In this 51st episode we conclude our 2-part special on 50 years of robotics. For the occasion we speak with 12 scientists about the most remarkable developments in their field of robotics over the last 50 years and their prediction for next half-century.
Today’s episode features Jean-Christophe Zufferey on flying robots, Dan Kara on the robotics market, Kristinn Thórisson on AI, Andrea Thomaz on human robot interactions, Terry Fong on space robotics and Richard Jones on nano robots.
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Today we celebrate the 50th episode of ROBOTS! For the occasion we speak with 12 scientists about the most remarkable developments in their field of robotics over the last 50 years and their prediction for next half-century. This 50th special is split into two episodes with the second half airing in two weeks.
Today we speak with Rolf Pfeifer on robotics in general, Mark Tilden on robot toys, Hiroshi Ishiguro on androids, Oscar Schofield on underwater robots, Steve Potter on brain machine interfaces and Chris Rogers on eduction robots.
Fri, 9 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Jean-Christophe Baillie introduces us to URBI, the universal robotics software platform that's already been implemented on several different robots and is going open source in May 2010.
Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Poramate Manoonpong speaks about using chaotic input to central pattern generators. Alex Pitti describes way to synchronise a non-linear controller to the dynamics of the body it is controlling.
Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Alvar Saenz-Otero from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology talks about miniature satellites that create swarms in space.
Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Oscar Schofield from the Rutgers Coastal Ocean Observation Lab talks about autonomous ocean gliders and the Scarlet Knight that crossed the Atlantic. Mark Moline from the Center for Coastal Marine Sciences at California Poly State University speaks about his expedition to the Arctic with AUVs in freezing conditions.
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Joshua Portlock from Cyber Technology in Perth Australia tells us about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and in particular the CyberQuad, a 4-rotor autonomous helicopter that can be used for surveillance and inspection of hard-to-reach places from the air.
Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Alberto Collasius Jr. from the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US talks about his time at sea as expedition leader with the JASON remotely operated vehicle.
Fri, 1 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT - Cecilia Lashi, co-coordinator of the Octopus European project, talks about a soft bio-mimetic robotic octopus arm; Hobbyist Carl Morgan, presents his sleek silver humanoid that rides behind your tandem bike and does all the pedaling; and Carson Reynolds, professor at the University of Tokyo, tells us about his high-speed robotic hand.
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Cory Kidd is the founder of Intuitive Automata Inc. which commercializes a robotic weight-loss coach born during his PhD at the MIT Media Lab. He tells us about how good human-robot interaction can keep people motivated to eat well and exercise. We'll also be holding a Christmas contest for a chance to win two robot kits for beginners.
Fri, 4 Dec 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Julie Townsend from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California talks about her work with NASA's Mars rovers and the lunar ATHLETE robot. Sebastian Gautsch from the the SAMLAB in Neuchatel, Switzerland, tells us about the Atomic Force Microscope that was sent to Mars aboard the Phoenix lander in the Spring of 2008.
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Andrea Thomaz from Georgia Tech looks at how humans can teach and humanoids learn with the hope to create good human-robot interactions. We then speak with Sethu Vijayakumar from the University of Edinburgh about machine learning and how it can be used to teach a robot hand to balance a pole.
Fri, 6 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Ludovic Dovat from the Singapore National University tells us about stroke victims' trouble re-learning to use their hands, and the robotic systems he designed to help with the rehabilitation process. David Brown tells us about the effects of stroke and his company Kinea Design that produces robots that help people learn to walk in unstructured terrain.
Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Howie Choset from Carnegie Mellon University explains the basics of snake robots, and how he hopes to see them used anywhere from disaster areas to industrial inspection or even surgery. Erik Kyrkjebø from SINTEF Applied Cybernetics in Norway speaks about their own pipe inspection robots as well as a snake robot designed for fighting fires.
Fri, 9 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Tony Prescott from the University of Sheffield speaks about active perception in rats, and presents his SCRATCHbot robot that features artificial whiskers. Elio Tuci from the Italian National Research Council speaks of a robot arm that can distinguish between different objects using active perception.
Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Sara Mitri, researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne speaks about her bio-inspired experiments on the evolution of communication. Jürgen Jost, director at Leipzig's Max Planck Institute, discusses intentionality in robot communication.
Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Dean Kaman from DEKA research speaks about the spirit of invention that drives him to create products that improve lives, and of the FIRST initiative that encourages young children to get engaged in engineering and science.
Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Rainer Konietschke at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Centre explains the MiroSurge project for robotic endoscopic surgery. Woung Youn Chung at the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea explains using the Da Vinci surgical robot to treat thyroid cancer.
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Charles Higgins from the University of Arizona tells us how he uses insects to control robot motion. Steve Potter from the Georgia Institute of Technololgy explains how he grows neural circuitry in a Petri-dish and interfaces it with robots.
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Roger Orpwood, director of the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering in the UK explains how smart homes can be used to help dementia patients stay independent and receive better care. Andrew Sixsmith, Professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada then shares his experience from a medical perspective.
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Richard Jones, Professor of Physics at the University of Sheffield in the UK talks about Soft Machines, the future nanorobots inspired from biology.
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Markus Fischer, head of the Bionic Learning Network project and head of Corporate Design talks transferring technology from biomimetic research to actual products and their work on the AquaPenguin, AquaRay and AirJelly. Victor Zykov, PhD and PostDoc from Cornell University talks about modular robotics and introduces his bio-inspired Molecubes.
Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Fred Barton, also known as "Robotman", introduces Robby the Robot and talks about building robot collectibles for museums and fellow enthusiasts.
Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Dirk Wollherr, senior researcher at the Technical University of Munich, and Astrid Weiss from the University of Salzburg on the design and the goals of the Autonomous City Explorer (ACE) robot.
Fri, 22 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Swiss theater director Christian Denisart talks about his latest play where 3 of the 5 main characters are mobile robots. Nicolas Tomatis, CEO of Bluebotics Ltd., describes the three robotic actors, an obedient robot dog, a distinguished robot butler and a sensual female, in more detail.
Fri, 8 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT - MIT's Nikolaus Correll on his robot swarms for turbine inspection and his latest research on cooperating networks. In part two Roderich Gross introduces the swarm-bots and his work on robot cooperation, self-assembly and division of labour.
Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Theo Jansen describes his Strandbeest, giant walking creatures that can walk and sense their environments. We then talk to Jaimie Mantzel who is building a giant 6-legged robot on his mountain in Vermont.
Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT - William "Red" Whittaker, director of the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University, talks about his team's bid for the Google Lunar X Prize.
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:00:00 GMT - In this episode we speak with Chris Rogers about the use of LEGO in educating young children in engineering, math and science. We then speak with Liz Herron on her experiences with children using LEGO MINDSTORMS robotic kits at the LEGO Education Centre.
Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:00:00 GMT - In this episode we speak with Davide Faconti, leader of the REEM project, one of the few European contenders in humanoid robotics. We then speak with Jun Ho Oh from South Korea who was the general chair of the last International Conference on Humanoid Robots for his snapshot view of the field as well as the HUBO humanoids developed in his lab.
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT - This second episode in a two-part series on Robot Ethics interviews Ronald Arkin, Regents' Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Georgia Tech University in the US. Topics include military robots, robots in the society, medical robots and legal responsibilities.
Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT - This first episode in a two part series on Robot Ethics interviews Noel Sharkey, Professor of Public Engagement, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Topics include military robots, robots in the society, medical robots and legal responsibilities.
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT - David Levy, author of the book "Love + Sex with Robots" and Kathleen Richardson who is a doctor of Robot Anthropology at Cambridge University discuss the future of human-robot relationships, both physical and emotional.
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT - Raúl Ordóñez from the Motoman Robotics Lab talks about research in industrial robotics and how he hopes to use visual servoing as a feedback mechanism allowing robot arms to accomplish complex tasks such as juggling.
Fri, 2 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT - We review the biggest events in robotics in 2008 and look to what 2009 has to offer with our panel of experts: Dan Kara from Robotics Trends, Terry Fong from the NASA Ames Research Center, Dario Floreano from the EPFL, Steve Rainwater from robots.net, and Minoru Asada from Osaka University.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Mark Tilden, passionate robot builder with WowWee Robotics, talks about designing robots for children, and what he thinks that scientists and researchers can learn from the toy industry.
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Gil Weinberg who is the Director of Music Technology at Georgia Tech, presents his wooden robot drummer Haile that is capable of playing with human teachers and even evolving its own beats to reach robotic improvisation. He also introduces his latest robot, Shimon the Marimba player. Our second guest, Atsuo Takanishi describes the Waseda Flutist, a robot that mimics human lungs, vocal chords, and lips to accurately play the flute.
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Robert Full from UC Berkley presents his research on animal locomotion and how his insights have been inspiring engineers to create robots. Auke Ijspeert from the EPFL then shares some thoughts on bio-inspired locomotion.
Fri, 7 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University introduces his androids, including the robotic replicate of his then 5 year old daughter, a female android modeled after the NHK news announcer Ayako Fujii and a copy of himself, the Geminoid. He explains Android Science and how his explorations of the uncanny valley may help to understand human presence. This episode then features the last quarter of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".
Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Sarah Bergbreiter from the University of Maryland gives us an overview of her work with robotic mobile sensor networks, walking and jumping micro-robots as well as fast prototyping of novel robots. Aaron Hoover at Berkeley talks about novel manufacturing techniques with smart composites. This episode then features the third part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:00:00 GMT - In this episode Raffaello D'Andrea of KIVA Systems describes how hundreds of autonomous robots can be used to automate warehouses. This episode then features the second part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".
Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:00:00 GMT - In this show we dive into the world of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with Navinda Kottege from the Australian National University. In the second part Marc Sherman from Teledyne RD Instruments tells us more about AUV technology and the importance of Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) for underwater navigation. Finally we are treated to the first part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's story "Selkies".
Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:00:00 GMT - In this episode we dive into the revolution brought on by the field of probabilistic robotics with Claudio Mattiussi. We then launch a most "uncertain" competition to see how good our listeners are at making probabilistic predictions to estimate the cleaning capabilities of a Roomba robot.
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT - This episode discusses bacteria-propelled micro robots and their potential for medical applications inside the human body. In the first part Metin Sitti explains how his robots can join forces with bacteria. In the second part gastroenterologist Mark Schattner discusses current uses and future potential from a medical perspective.
Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT - In this episode we cover two major events in aerial robotics: the announcement of the DelFly Micro and the 2008 European Micro Air Vehicle (EMAV) Competition. We first speak with Christophe de Wagter, a member of the Dutch team that's been churning out amazing flapping-wing robots in the last few years. Our second interview features Peter Vörsmann, chair of this year's EMAV competition, to explain the latest advances in autonomous flying vehicles.
Fri, 1 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT - This episode gives an insight into part of the online robotics community. We interview Steve Rainwater on his experience with robots.net, the first and probably largest robot community site online. Mikell Taylor shares her experience with the IEEE Spectrum Automaton blog and also gives us a quick insight into her current job at Bluefin Robotics.
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT - This episode centers on modular robots. We interview Kasper Stoy on research in Modular Robotics. Robert Fitch gives an insight into Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robots.
Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Manuela Veloso, President-Elect of the International RoboCup Federation, gives a look behind the scenes of robot soccer.
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT - This episode centers on the robotic fly, featuring interviews with professor Robert Wood at Harvard university and with Paola Antonelli, the curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Fri, 6 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Our inaugural episode centers on the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, featuring interviews with professor Daniel Huttenlocher from Team Cornell and Rick Yoder from Velodyne, a producer of LIDAR sensors used by several teams in the challenge.
Thu, 22 May 2008 07:00:00 GMT - Robots: Coming Soon! This is the trailer for the new Robots podcast, your source for news and views on robotics. Our inaugural episode will be released on 6 June 2008.
A very impressive demonstration of a small autonomous helicopter performing precise aggressive maneuvers - flips, flight through windows, and quadrotor perching.
Scientists from Italy and Sweden developed a new artificial hand that can actually feel, as it is directly linked to the brain. The brain picks up the sensors in the hand, and the hand picks up signals from the brain.
A short demonstration of a new flying robot aircraft which is the size of a small bird. It is capable of hanging in the air like an insect and can move in any direction.
A highly realistic Einstein robot developed at the University of California, San Diego. The robot can learn how to smile through self-guided learning.
This 1.5 m. (5 foot) tall robot can play the violin thanks to its human like dexterity. It is one of a number of robots Toyota is developing to assist humans in Japan's greying society.
The Trons is a self-playing robot band consisting of four robots - two guitar players (one of whom also does the vocals), a keyboard player and a drummer.
BigDog is a dynamically stable robot using four legs for movement. This video demonstrates how it handles being kicked, balancing on slippery ice and overcoming obstacles.
Not even the most sophisticated of today's robots come close to mimicking the flight aerobatics of insects. However, researchers have found a way around that: by programming and taking control of real insects.
Robotics researchers are increasingly turning to nature for inspiration. Watch a robotic salamander, a water strider robot, mechanical cockroaches and some cool self-configuring robots.
The "Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot" is an experimental mechanism in which a live cockroach is the pilot. It stands on top of a trackball which has been modified to control a three-wheeled robot.
Clockwork Robot create amazing
paper engineering for you. Also create stereoscopic (3D) images for print or web
publication
OrionRobot Robotics
resource and community website. There is a great deal of technical, creative and
background information on robotics for hobbyists and even those more
experienced. Some areas of the site also form a dictionary for some of the terms
and concepts used in robotics, electronics, programming, Lego building and
engineering.
Foxbox.Nl
:: Lego Mindstorms
Robots And Machines. A lot of Lego Mindstorms Robotics Projects.
EURON ( European Robotics
Research Network). It is a community of people with a common
interest in working to make better robots.
Robot Matrix This portal is all about robots/robotics. It delicates to all who are interested in the development of robotics - from beginners to professionals, manufacturers, suppliers, direct end users and even researchers.
A comprehensive web portal on robotic technology. It contains both commercial and non-commercial information on robotic technology. More importantly, we always welcome useful user input, feedback or contributions in terms of publish useful articles on Robotics technologies in the portal.
Humanoid
Robots.
Carl Kenner's Home Page. Programmable Input Emulator (GlovePIE or PIE). Control Games with Gestures, Speech, and Other Input Devices! With GlovePIE you can now play any game, or control any software or MIDI devices, using whatever controls you want. This includes joysticks,
gamepads, mice, keyboards, MIDI input devices, HMDs, Wiimotes, trackers, and of course, Virtual Reality gloves!
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:18:45 +0000 - Time flies! It’s that time again to officially announce the next Trossen Robotics DIY Project Contest. We’ve had a ton of incredible entries in past contests. Because it’s been so long since our last contest, we’ve decided it was time to start showing off some of the work that has kept us so quite by [...]
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:20:45 +0000 - It is pretty much a known fact at this point that Interlink FSRs totally rock. For low cost yet durable pressure & force sensing they are a great solution. The brilliant minds over at Interlink even made them standard with thin rubber backing that has an adhesive layer. The only complaint some have is that [...]
Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:10:17 +0000 - The Robot Turrets hath cometh! We’re proud to announce the first robot kits from InterbotiX Labs, a comprehensive line of high-end pan/tilt turrets.  These high speed, high strength, and high performance robot turrets are built from your choice of Robotis Dynamixel Servos, the ArbotiX Robocontroller, and custom lasercut ABS frame components. Just how high speed and [...]
Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:00:33 +0000 - Robot Pioneers is a short documentary about people who are passionate about robotics. We’ve had the privilege of meeting a plethora of fantastic innovators over the years; through our own online community, at Robogames, via various business communications, universities, techshops, hackerspaces, and at a number of tradeshows.
Each of these makers has a story to tell, [...]
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:08:32 +0000 - Sourcing the right eyeballs for your bot can be a pain. With the help of our awesome community of roboticists we have identified some great cameras for each level of price point and quality from low cost to high end research.
We have the cameras in stock now. Stay tuned because soon we will offer them [...]
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:02:40 +0000 - PhidgetSpatial 0/0/3 is a 3 axis Accelerometer which measures static and dynamic acceleration in 3 axes, up to 5g, and provides a high sampling speed of up to 1000 samples per second.
PhidgetSpatial 3/3/3, 9 Axis IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) measures static and dynamic acceleration in 3 axes, up to 5g.; it also measures magnetic field [...]
Surveyor Corporation Surveyor SRV-1 Wireless Mobile Robot with Video for Telepresence, Autonomous and Swarm Operation.
RoboCup is
an international joint project to promote AI, robotics, and related field. It is
an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a
standard problem where wide range of technologies can be integrated and
examined. RoboCup chose to use soccer game as a central topic of research,
aiming at innovations to be applied for socially significant problems and
industries.
Robothon
a national event that showcases the capabilities and technological developments
in robotics from the amateur robotics community. At this event, people from
around the world come together to present new robotic technologies, share ideas,
meet fellow robotic enthusiasts, show off their robotic creations, and compete
in many robotic competitions and activities.
Converting
a Floppy Disk Drive into a Simple RobotGeneration5
aims to be the most comprehensive Artificial Intelligence site on the Internet.
Community-orientated, Generation5 deals with all AI topics including robotics,
neural networks, genetic algorithms, AI programming, home automation and much
more.
Instructable for the absolute n00by robot wannabe. Noticed a huge jump in the number of beginners getting into the hobby and the number of "how do I" question...
Robots wanted Any condition, any type... ROBOTS WANTED: Dead or Alive, Whole or
Parts, Please help the virtual robot museum grow! Some of the Robots that I am
interested in: HeathKit (HERO JR, HERO 1, HERO 2000, Arm Trainer), Androbots (Topo,
BOB, BOB/XA, Fred, and Androman), RB5X, Artec GEMINI, Omnibots, Rhino Robots,
MAXX STEELE, NEWTON SynPet, Comro Tot, Marvin Mark I, RoPet, Servitron, ELAMI,
CYBER I, HUBOT, Hearoid, Turtles, Etc. Also looking for Robot accesories and
technical literature. Please don't throw that old Robot away!
Robotic Gallery
STAMP Parallax. A BASIC Stamp microcontroller is a single-board computer that runs the Parallax
PBASIC language interpreter in it's microcontroller. The developer's code is
stored in an EEPROM, which can also be used for data storage. The PBASIC
language has easy-to-use commands for basic I/O, like turning devices on or off,
interfacing with sensors, etc. More advanced commands let the BASIC Stamp module
interface with other integrated circuits, communicate with each other, and
operate in networks. STAMP
In Education
Wall-E project
controlled by a BS2P40 stamp CPU and for motive power and two robosapienV2 hip
motors.
Getting
Started with an Accelerometer. (Forums
Parallax Basic STAMP, electronic chips etc. Parallax)
Acceleration is a measure of how quickly speed changes. Just as a speedometer is a meter that measures speed, an accelerometer is
a meter that measures acceleration. You can use the ability to sense acceleration to measure a variety of things that
are very useful to electronic and robotic projects and designs. More
Forum Links.
nBot
Balancing Robot (Also has quite a number of Robot links). (Also has quite a number of Robot links).
CTG robotics Configurable Robotics allows the Designer to configure a robot by selecting from a wide range of interface boards and a variety of base designs to meet any task requirement. By using this
configurable system the Designer can quickly assemble a robot and immediately start writing task software.
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST - Three Mile Island, Challenger, Chernobyl—and now, Deepwater Horizon. Like those earlier disasters, the destruction of the drilling rig was an accident waiting to happen.
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST - Take the common French fry. Copying the magic of even a simple oil-cooked potato at home requires diligence, resources and certain flirtation with danger. Here is the food science you need to know to get your fry on.
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST - When Popular Mechanics talked to James Cameron recently, he couldn't help slipping in some info on a project he's particularly excited about—designing a stereoscopic camera for the Mars Science Laboratory, launching Fall 2011.
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:09:00 EST - Hurricanes are one of nature’s most devastating forces—but there's plenty we can do to prepare for them. Self-reliant, community-minded individuals can help people get through a major event when all else fails. Here’s how.
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EST - Researchers announced today the discovery of two Saturn-size planets—and possibly a third the size of Earth—orbiting a distant star. Here's what the finding means for the future of the Kepler mission.
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:30:00 EST - Phil Plait, host of the Discovery Channel's new series Phil Plait's Bad Universe, is an expert on astronomical doomsday scenarios. Here, he outlines five things in the Universe that could spell the end for humankind.
Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST - Yes, FutureGen, the $1 billion Bush-era clean-coal project, is back from the dead as FutureGen 2.0. New name, same goal: to make a zero-emissions coal plant. The problem is, there's no such thing as truly clean coal power.
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:00:00 EST - Mining in deep underground chambers filled with explosive methane and massive machines is dangerous work. But it doesn't have to be deadly. PM investigates the real price of coal.
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:00:00 EST - Sandia National Laboratories is trying to make coal mining safer and more survivable. Their answer: a remote-controlled robot.
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:00:00 EST - In the previous piece, we discussed what the new Congressional-mandated heavy lifter might look like. In this one, we'll talk about what the astronauts will ride in to get to and from orbit.
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EST - A recently released 22-year-long study provides a clear look into the huge problem of plastic pollution in the Atlantic Ocean, but raises an important question: After it enters the water, where is it all going?
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EST - A new study reveals that plant growth across the globe has decreased in the past 10 years, despite the observed increasing trend of the prior two decades. How can this be?
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EST - Rain barrels are a popular aid for gardening, landscaping and cleaning at home. Before setting up your own rain barrel, here's what you should know about how to guard against disease and insure best water quality.
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EST - Here are more safety tips to guard against bacteria and disease, insuring the best water quality and aesthetic presentation.
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 04:30:00 EST - Many telescope makers start because making is cheaper than buying. Here are the coolest DIY telescopes from Stellafane—mirrors and all.
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST - A new commentary penned by public health researchers outlines the health-related repercussions of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
This project is a robotic arm made mostly from Wood. It cost less than $50 to make and has a lot of the functionality that any normal robotic arm would have. It is controlled by a PIC MicroController and cloned PS1 controller.
RoboPUC is the name of the Branch of Robotics of the School of Engineering of the PUC.
This is a group of professors and students, whose objectives are to harness the interest by the robotics by means of the development of projects, works altogether and aids for students. (Translated to English).
Robot SDKs
Learn about new Software Development Kits for robots and robotic-enhanced products, including AIBO, Lego Mindstorms, Evolution Robotics and various open source projects.
From About AI
Robotic
software development. The software for robotic controller is developed in
collaboration with the CISAS of University
of Padova. (Andrea Bulgarelli's Home Page)
RT
Middleware Developed for Realizing Open Robot Architecture. For Creation of New Industry of Service Robotsx
Sexy Robot" Used to describe Hajime Sorayama's renditions of the female robot forms which is covered with silver metal, first created in 1979. Initially, Sorayama had the idea to combine robots with eroticism to create the "Sexy Robots". Those are now becoming reality through the work of technicians in robotics labs all over the world. Human female looking robots are called Gynoids (also Fembots) as opposed to Androids which are based on the human male characteristics. This site features all kinds of life-like robots and not only "Sexy Robots". :-)
Introduce Themselves. ITU Telecom World 2006, Hong Kong. NEC is
showing their robot PaPeRo. In the video, PaPeRo tell us its name in Japanese,
English, Chinese (Putonghua), German and French; afterwards they dance together.
Watch the video.
The
Robotics Laboratory. (Department of Mechanical Engineering).
University of Maryland. Affiliated with Center
for Automation Research is the Robotics Laboratory of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, which is directed by Prof. Jackson C.S. Yang. It was
established in 1983, with primary activities in education, research and
industrial interaction.
Robostrider
The study of live water striders led us to attempt the construction of a
mechanical water strider "Robostrider". The challenge was to build a
device capable of self propulsion light enough to be supported by surface
tension. At the scale where surface tension is important, the weight of a
handmade water strider increases with complexity; therefore it was important to
develop a very simple driving mechanism.
Robot
Insects an information resource for students, robot enthusiasts and anybody
else who is looking for information on six-legged robots. As well as offering a
comprehensive foundation in hexapod robot subjects this site also offers a
carefully researched resource page. Robot
Insect Resources Links.
The ME2011 Robot Project is a chance for students in ME2011 Introduction to Engineering to be creative, to face a substantial challenge, to show off, and to
stretch themselves as designers.
Software Verification and Validation Plan (SVVP) for the Robot Development Project (RDP). The goal of the project is to deliver a software package capable of
controlling the ASEA Irb6 robot at the faculty of Electrical Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology. The project and the documents to be delivered are organised according to the ESA Software Engineering Standards [ESA]).
The project's verification and validation activities are described this SVVP, it also contains plans for testing the software.
Field And Space Robotics Laboratory
Microbots project studies a new mission concept for planetary exploration, based
on the deployment of a large number of small spherical mobile robots (microbots)
over vast areas of a planet's surface and subsurface, including structures
such as caves and near-surface crevasses. Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
Biomimetic
Millisystem Lab harness features of animal manipulation, locomotion,
sensing, actuation, mechanics, dynamics, and control strategies to radically
improve millirobot capabilities. Research in the lab ranges from fundamental
understanding of mechanical principles to novel fabrication techniques to system
integration of autonomous millirobots.
IGERT Neuromechanics
is a multidisciplinary graduate program at Case Western Reserve University. Neuro-mechanical systems include natural,
man-made, or hybrid systems combining neural controllers and mechanical
peripheries. Examples include natural organisms, biologically inspired robots,
and neuroprostheses for restoring motor function in the disabled.
Biologically Inspired
Robotics Lab dedicated to the advancement of the field of robotics using
insights gained through the study of biological mechanisms.
The
Robot Scientist Project A multidisciplinary research project involving
expertise from Computer Science and Microbiology,
Physical
computing. It's an approach to learning how humans communicate through
computers that starts by considering how humans express themselves physically.
The Robot Hall of Fame recognizes excellence in robotics technology worldwide and honors the
fictional and real robots that have inspired and made breakthrough accomplishments in robotics. The Robot Hall of Fame was created by Carnegie
Mellon University in April 2003 to call attention to the increasing contributions from robots to human
society
Future-Bots
Robotic parts and systems and Vintage and New hard-to-find items including
Integrated Circuits, CPU's, Memory, Linear Devices, Transistors, and more.
The ROVer Ranch An interactive, Web-based robotics workshop for assembling the
hardware and instructions for a software robot to perform a mission in a virtual environment.
Robot Activity Links. Other Robot Links.
Robot.org.uk This site is a guide for robot builders. There are lists of robotics books, magazines, CD-ROMs, kits, component suppliers, information sources and events.
Epanorama
Robotics LinksEpanorama
web site, which is dedicated to offer information on electronics found from
the web. Lot's or electronic, computer and other related links.
Zach's Cool Stuff. Where people come to expand their knowledge of
electronics, robotics, and technology through hands-on projects (i.e., Building Cool Stuff).
Smart RobotsOpen
Robot Network (ORN) members are improving and expanding upon the protocols,
languages, applications, and technologies of the SR4 that support robot-to-robot
and robot-to-person communication over the Internet.
The Robot Group was founded in the Spring of 1989 by a small group of Austin, TX artists and engineers who
shared a common vision: utilizing technology to provide and explore new mediums for art.
Team
Stupid Robots is dedicated to providing and supporting economical motor and
motion control solutions for a wide variety industrial, research, hobby, and
military/police applications. Robot
Links
Micro
Dones GmbH. Development of robotic aerial vehicles. Production of rotary
wing based VTOL MAV's. (VTOL = Vertical Take Off and Landing, MAV = Micro
Aerial Vehicle).
Micromagic Systems® Supply animatronic, robotic and puppet control systems and services to the film and television industry. Most recent projects include "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".
GKDesign specialises in developing prototypes for your robotics and electronics
needs.
Silicon Chip
Australia's electronics
magazine, and is primarily directed to professionals, trades people and
enthusiasts in the electronics, electrical, computer and related fields.
Stop the construction of Killer Robots
It has been claimed that mass assembling an army of giant KILLER ROBOTS to destroy the world that we live. Sign a Petition to help stop
this.
Engineering TV, an
innovative online video program by engineers for engineers. Twice a week, each
5-8 minute episode shows cutting-edge technology in action and looks behind the
scenes as today's engineers shape tomorrow's breakthroughs. Brought to you by
the Penton Media Design and Electronics Engineering groups.
RealTimeBattle
is a programming game, in which robots controlled by programs are fighting each
other. The goal is to destroy the enemies, using the radar to examine the
environment and the cannon to shoot.
The Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio (Microsoft RDS) is a Windows®-based
environment for academic, hobbyist, and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. Microsoft
RDS includes a lightweight asynchronous services-oriented runtime, a set of visual authoring and simulation tools, as well as templates, tutorials, and
sample code to help you get started.
More Microsoft® Links.
Open Hardware Licenses Open (source) hardware is a licensing agreement for
electromechanical projects. That is to say, electronics
and robotics and other mechanical projects are open hardware if they are documented and published under an
open hardware license.
Control. Global online community of automation professionals.
MORP or Module
Orientated Robotic Programming is a small framework designed to bring base
implementations in order to easily connect modules such as a NXT or Bioloid
Robot. It provides its own scripting languages called 'morp' dedicated to
robot programming. More
Programming Languages
RoSH, (Restriction of Hazardous Substances), also known as Lead-Free. RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC
restricts the use of six hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products. All applicable products in the EU market after July 1,
2006 must pass RoHS compliance. RoHS impacts the entire electronics industry.
WEEE, (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment). WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC mandates the treatment, recovery
and recycling of electric and electronic equipment (90% ends up in landfills). All applicable products in the EU market after August 13, 2006 must pass WEEE
compliance and carry the "Wheelie Bin" sticker.
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Hardware Help from BIOS to Windows and UNIX.
Willow Garage is happy to
announce three recipients of the Willow Garage Open Source Achievement Award. This
award recognizes individuals in the robotics community who have been
leaders in promoting and developing open-source software. Awardees are selected by the Willow Garage research and development team and will receive $2000 as additional thanks for their efforts.
With the PR2 Beta Program up and running and 
